title: Patients with heart failure have an increased risk of incident cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study sought to evaluate the risk of cancer in patients with heart failure (HF) compared with community controls and to determine the impact of cancer post-HF on outcomes.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  HF is associated with excess morbidity and mortality. Noncardiac causes of adverse outcomes in HF are increasingly recognized, but not fully characterized.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a case-control study, we compared the history of cancer among community subjects newly diagnosed with HF from 1979 to 2002 to age-, sex-, and date-matched community controls without HF (961 pairs). Individuals without cancer at the index date (596 pairs) were followed for cancer in a cohort design, and the survival of HF patients who developed cancer was assessed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Before the index date, 22% of HF cases and 23% of controls had a history of cancer (odds ratio [OR]: 0.94; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.75 to 1.17). During 9,203 person-years of follow-up (7.7 ± 6.4 years), 244 new cancer cases were identified; HF patients had a 68% higher risk of developing cancer (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.68; 95% CI: 1.13 to 2.50) adjusted for body mass index, smoking, and comorbidities. The HRs were similar for men and women, with a trend toward a stronger association among subjects ≤75 years of age (p = 0.22) and during the most recent time period (p = 0.075). Among HF cases, incident cancer increased the risk of death (HR: 1.56; 95% CI: 1.22 to 1.99) adjusted for age, sex, index year, and comorbidities.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  HF patients are at increased risk of cancer, which appears to have increased over time. Cancer increases mortality in HF, underscoring the importance of noncardiac morbidity and of cancer surveillance in the management of HF patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences Research, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905, USA.
authors.forename: Tal
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hasin
authors.forename: Yariv
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gerber
authors.forename: Sheila M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: McNallan
authors.forename: Susan A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Weston
authors.forename: Sudhir S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Kushwaha
authors.forename: Timothy J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.forename: James R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Cerhan
authors.forename: Veronique L
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Roger
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008910:Minnesota / Q000453:epidemiology; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D015996:Survival Rate
keywords: BMI; CI; EF; HF; HR; body mass index; cancer; confidence interval; ejection fraction; epidemiology; follow-up studies; hazard ratio; heart failure; risk